Blaze Kills 2 Orange Firemen

Gift Shop Destroyed At Lake Buena Vista

February 25, 1989|By Mark Pankowski and Lauren Ritchie of The Sentinel Staff

Two Orange County firefighters died Friday in a blaze at a Lake Buena Vista gift shop.

The men, whose identities were not released, were the first Orange County firefighters to die in the line of duty.

Acting County Administrator Phil Brown said fire officials told him the blaze started under ''very suspicious circumstances.'' Late Friday, however, Fire Chief John Hunt said he did not believe the fire was suspicious ''at this point.'' Arson investigators and sheriff's department homicide detectives were at the scene.

Hundreds of tourists swarmed from nearby hotels as flames shot 50 feet out of the Sunrise Gift Center near the intersection of Interstate 4 and State Road 535.

Minutes after arriving, three firefighters wearing full gear and air packs carried a hose into the shop. By then, witnesses said, flaming 2-foot sections of the roof were dropping into the building.

Two or three minutes later came a small explosion, followed by a whoosh and a roar as the roof dropped onto the firefighters.

''It looked like an orange fireball that went into the air and then there was an explosion,'' said Robin Musick, who works nearby.

''It fell right down on them. A good half of the roof came right down,'' said witness Debbie Reardon, 33, of Massachusetts.

The explosion sent a rush of flames and a mushroom cloud of smoke into the air.

Reardon and her husband John watched as a lone firefighter inside the building kicked his way through a plate glass window to safety. Other firefighters ran around to help pull him out. The firefighter has not been identified.

''I don't know why they went in there,'' said Fred McLaughlin of New Brunswick, Canada. ''There was no one in there. It was burning over their heads.''

Fire officials had no immediate explanation for why the firefighters went into the building or what happened afterward.

However, communications coordinator Dennis Snyder gave this account:

''They had just gone inside to start attacking the blaze when there was a back-draft or explosion.

''Everyone was told to abandon the building, and two of them never made it out.''

Jerry Polk, president of the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, Local 2057, said it is common practice to try to get to the root of the fire and extinguish it before it gets out of hand.

''In the event that there is any type of opportunity to enter the building, that's the idea. If that's what it requires, that's what you do.

''It's the broad interpretation of the officer in charge. If he looks and views that it's safe to go in, that's the call that is made.

''I wouldn't second-guess anybody in this situation.''

Witnesses said the flames were lapping around the sides of the building and the roof, but the interior of the gift shop did not appear to be burning when firefighters went in.

About three dozen firefighters using cherry-picker bucket trucks fought the blaze as tourists watched and took pictures, and a skywriter advertising the Church Street Station spelled out his letters above the smoke. One out-of-town firefighter on vacation taped the blaze.

Sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said the county called for 12 pieces of equipment to fight the fire, which started in the attic of the business.

Steve Peeters, an Orlando limousine operator, saw it start:

''It was a small fire one minute and a massive one the next. It was incredible.''

One yellow fire truck was the first to arrive at the Vista Palms Shopping Center on Palm Parkway, Peeters said.

''The first truck just wasn't doing anything because of the wind,'' he said. ''It didn't look like it was that big of a fire, but the wind helped to engulf it.''

The fire destroyed the gift shop, which had opened only a few months ago. Jimmy Maali, cousin of shop owner Jesse Maali, said two employees were in the building when the fire started, but they ran. Jesse Maali was not there, he said.

Fire also damaged a cafe next door called Roupertz.

Owner Maureen Rouadi fussed when firefighters would not let her inside the building to assess the damage, but she praised their efforts.

''They were fighting it as hard as they could,'' she said.

Late Friday, stoic firefighters picked through piles of charred bricks and wood, collecting evidence. Only the blackened skeleton of the masonry building still stands, its roof and windows gone.

Orange County Emergency Management officials sent a white bus and hot coffee to shield investigators from the cold while they conducted interviews and wrote reports.

At last, the bodies of the two firefighters were carried out. Their fellow firefighters formed a wall around the pair and held up tarpaulins to prevent newsmen from filming as they walked to the coroner's station wagon.